Pranab Kharel/ Ramesh Shrestha

THE Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday issued an interim order to the government asking it not to implement the salary hike as published in the Nepal Gazette on May 23. The Ministry of Labour and Transport Management had decided to increase the minimum salary of workers by Rs 1,600 per month and the daily wage by Rs 41 following pressure by minor trade unions. Issuing the order, the division bench of Justices Prem Sharma and Tarka Raj Bhatta said that the raise should be effective from the day it is published in the Gazette, but the government had ordered that the increased rate be implemented retroactively from March 15, 2011. The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) had filed a writ on June 21 against the validity of the notification of salary hike in the Gazette seeking a stay order on the move of the government. The FNCCI has welcomed the order of the SC saying that the order was in favour of workers and employers for building cordial relations. Employers have been saying that the government had breached the procedure of publishing a provision in the Gazette. It has said that now it would ask the government to implement the 11-point agreement reached with the three major trade unions on March 24. Employers’ organisations had been demanding that the government correct its decision and implement the 11-point agreement which they termed as “historic”. The 11-point agreement had decided to increase of minimum salary of workers by Rs 1,500 (Rs 50 basic salary and dearness allowance of Rs 1450) a month. It had also decided to increase the daily wage to Rs 226. “There is no option to the 11-point agreement. We will soon ask the government to implement this pact,” said Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar, vice president of the FNCCI. He added that the salary hike published in the Gazette had failed to address the major issues such as industrial peace and “no work, no pay” neglecting the sentiments of the 11-point agreement.

Published on: 3 July 2011 | The Kathmandu Post